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Clark Howard's Tips

April 24, 2008

When you go to the store, you want to be respected and treated well as a customer. It's that simple. All the complex theories that MBAs learn in school really boil down to this: Treat the customer right. Yet the Wharton School of Business recently found that businesses aren't honoring this simple creed. Customers were treated down right rotten in 60% of the cases they examined.

The No. 1 complaint is that there are typically no employees around to help customers. The second peeve was long checkout lines. Finally, customers also get upset when there are employees present, but they don't offer any greeting, smile or eye contact.

In business, it's key that you focus on serving someone. For employers, it starts by wooing your employees with great treatment so they can romance the customer. Treat your employees with love and respect and they'll serve your customer. Everybody wins that way.

Here's one example of great customer service: When Clark's wife was in a car wreck, his insurer called twice after the accident just to see how she was feeling. How classy is that? The other driver's insurer -- who had to pay for the damage to Lane's vehicle -- never even called once. This kind of basic decency saves money in the long run because it makes customers less likely to think about litigation.

Consumer advice courtesy of